


Go Down to the Ocean

by PKBackthrow



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Episode: s01e22 Steven and the Stevens, Gen, Jam Buds, Pre-Episode: s06e12:Bismuth Casual, Time Travel, past steeb is the the time traveler this time, steeb is baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23504881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PKBackthrow/pseuds/PKBackthrow
Summary: Steven just wanted to grab his Time Thing. Amethyst got to keep hers, so he should get the one he picked out before the temple floods. Then, suddenly, there were a lot of Stevens popping into existence all around him. Fighting one another. He managed to grab his Time Thing before another Steven appeared, trying to take it from him. He was panicking. Panicking. He needed somewhere safe to be, and suddenly he was somewhere else. On the beginnings of his own quest of self-discovery and uncovering truths about himself. A crystal tide was rising, and Steven was going to have to wade through it. And even if he shows up in the wrong neighborhood, by the next day he gets an important lesson in cooking!
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran & Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe, Crystal Gems & Steven Universe, Greg Universe & Steven Universe, Steven Universe & Steven Universe
Comments: 16
Kudos: 143





	Go Down to the Ocean

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cat_llie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_llie/gifts).



> Huge thanks to my friend, Cat_llie for betaing!  
> Check out her stuff here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_llie/pseuds/Cat_llie

Screams and grunts echoed over the roaring of the water pouring in from the skylight. Some fake Time Glasses fell from the counter, the crinkling of glass crunching underneath the sound of a horde of Stevens struggling with one another. Pearl sounded like what a computer undergoing a meltdown and fatal system error would if it were human. Amethyst was counting the Stevens under her breath as she held her Time Glass under her other arm. Garnet frowned.

Steven, this timeline’s original Steven, was on the ground with his Time Glass in his hand, and his ukelele held tight in his other arm. He’d brought it with him to sing some tunes while they were on the mission, but he hadn’t realized that the underwater temple was just a warp away. The only other Steven that wasn’t fighting stood next to him, watching on in horror, as Steven fought with Steven. A few Stevens were crying as others stood next to them, unsure of what to do. Steven closed his eyes, wishing that he was somewhere safe, less chaotic. His hand glowed and the Steven next to him, the one with a pompadour, widened his eyes in shock as he reached for his Time Glass.

A flash of white light and he was gone. With the original Steven leaving of his own accord, taking the original Time Glass with him. With the original Time Glass gone, Steven after Steven disappeared as a mysterious wind seemed to blow them away, like sand scattering on a windy day at the beach. Only the First Pompadour Steven remained, because if it were not for his actions, the present past would not have transpired. Or something like that. He looked nervously to Garnet, who lowered her visor in what seemed to be disappointment.

* * *

Steven was surrounded in a white light and suddenly, instead of the underwater temple of hourglasses being flooded with water and Steven Doppelgängers, he was in space. Lines connected stars and galaxies to each other, like a wispy flowchart, or tree. Some lines flowed into other branches, some ended one or two stars in. Steven looked down at his feet, he decided it was down because that’s where his feet were. The floor was missing. But he wasn’t falling. Tentatively, Steven got up to his feet, and began walking around. New star-trees, he decided to call the weird dynamic patterns around him that, popped in and out of existence periodically. He held his arms close to himself, his Time Thing nestled safely in his fingers against the fabric of his hoodie. 

Steven walked for what felt like forever. He began to play his ukelele, no particular song in mind, but the sound helped Steven feel comfortable. Steven frowned. _Was_ time flowing here? He stopped playing and let the instrument hang at his side. Pearl never _did_ explain how the Time Thing was supposed to work. What if he got the wrong one after all, and now he was stuck in some weird space place as part of a curse? He would never see his dad or the gems again! He’d never be able to keep his promise and be Connie’s friend! He—

He bumped into someone in front of him. He’d been looking down at his hands, fiddling with the Time Thing nervously as his thoughts became more panicked. He was so drowned in his thoughts, that he didn’t see someone was in front of him.

“Hmm… Looks like that’s a branched timeline deviating from the main stream of events,” a girl muttered in front of him. “Well, I don’t have anything extra to do; looks like that Steven will replace the one who disappeared. Might get a stern talking to, but I could probably prevent the gems from being too difficult with him.” The girl was probably no taller than he was, but a lot thinner and paler. Almost as pale as Pearl! Her hair was a very pastel shade of light blue-gray, and Steven thinks a little horn is peeking out from the right side of her hair. It was hard to tell, he could only see the tip of something. Pearl said it was rude to stare at people. 

“Um… excuse me? Do you know where I am?” Steven asked. He made sure to say, “Excuse me” just like Pearl always reminded him. Amethyst would always blow raspberries whenever Pearl was teaching manners, and Garnet would just give a little smirk, like she was sharing an inside joke with herself. Gosh, he really missed the gems.

The girl turned around. She was wearing a gray hoodie and dark pants and ankle boots. There was a musty, worn old book in her hands with some loose pages. She was wearing sunglasses and a black T-Shirt with “YOU DIED” printed on it in red. Steven frowned, it was like a screen that came up every time Amethyst was sent to respawn in that one game she played, _Bark Soles_ , or something. He didn’t like that game, since it was so violent, but there were heroic knight dogs and wizard dogs and stuff in it, so it couldn’t have been too bad.

“Oh! A Steven! Must be from one of the Time Glass event splits!” She said. “What are you doing here? Oh no, are you from this one here?” She opened the book in her hands, and showed him a page. Steven had a gut feeling it was the one, even though there were a lot of identical pages next to it. “You should be able to tell instinctively. Kind of like when you know to wake up as you’re pulling into your home after a long car ride.”

“Uh, yeah, that’s the one. Can I go back please?”

The girl frowned. “I don’t know. That universe seems to have reset itself in stone too soon already. Time travel event points are always really janky, I don’t think I can interfere with this one.” She frowned again, this time in thought.

“You mean I’m stuck here?” Steven asked. “But—“

“Don’t worry, Steven. It seems like you’re on a special quest of magical destiny. This one is very important.”

Steven stopped for a second. He hadn’t realized they’d been walking aimlessly the whole time— that was beside the point. The girl said magical destiny quest, _Pay attention, Steven!_

“It looks like you’re in charge of helping a special someone with their own quest, like you do with the gems!”

“You know them?”

“Sort of, but before I tell you more, I should introduce myself, shouldn’t I?”

Steven nodded. She saved him the embarrassment of having to ask her name after she seemingly already knew his, and they started talking for a bit already. Asking names was always hard for Steven. That’s why he liked Beach City so much— not too many people and just close-knit enough for everyone to know everyone.

“My name’s Eri. I’m one of infinitely many Eris, actually, I just happen to be in charge of the multiverse. I go around fixing anomalies and things that threaten other universes and stuff. Here, let me make your Time Glass unbreakable, it would be very bad news for the other Steven taking your place if it broke. Then a universe would be missing a Steven!” Steven handed her the Time Thing. “And here’s a book for you to read when you’re on your quest. Only read a _little_ bit whenever you are unsure about something or need some information, got it?” Steven nodded. “You’re like a Crystal Gem for other universes, huh?”

“You could say that, haha. Okay, here you go.” Eri handed Steven his Time Thing back. “I attached a string so you can wear it like a necklace! And I made it so only you can wear it so no one tries to steal it.” They stopped walking. They had gotten really close to one of the stars on a star-tree Steven saw earlier. Close enough to touch, actually. “The book will only open itself to you, and won’t contain information about anything past the point in time you will enter in, okay? Hey, and if you are successful, you can come questing with me, or to just hang out, whenever you want.”

“Wait, you haven’t told me what I need to do!”

“You just gotta help a special person in this universe, Steven. Can’t tell you much more, or it’ll ruin the surprise, y’know. Might change too much. Like Garnet’s Future Vision.” Eri nudged Steven closer to the star. “Touch it, and your adventure starts. Oh, and just so you know. Our meeting will be like a far away dream. You won’t remember much except for the rules I laid out for you. Remembering the fine details of this encounter’s not too important, anyways.” 

“Aw, man. And here I thought we could be space buddies!”

“Don’t worry about it, when you finish your quest we’ll hang out, remember?”

Steven approached the star, and tapped it gently with his finger. 

* * *

Steven was suddenly in a quiet neighborhood. Not in Beach City, but he could see the ocean in the distance. It looked to be pretty far away. The moon was rising over the horizon, its reflection glinting slightly in the waters. Steven felt like he just woke up from a pleasant dream, but he had a feeling it wasn’t really a dream. He couldn’t remember much of what happened, though, except that he had to help someone, and his Time Thing was unbreakable. Instinctually, he pulled out a book from behind him. It had a strap that was currently resting on his shoulder, so the book was like a little satchel of knowledge. It was slightly worn at the edges; Steven thinks he should take it to a book binder to get it fixed up. It had a latch to keep the book from opening on accident. It kind of reminded Steven of a mystical tome one would find in an RPG. Medieval fantasy. There was a gold star on the front. Connie liked those kinds of settings, he thinks. He opened the book, hoping it might have some magical destiny answers for him.

_You’re in front of Connie’s house._

Well, it was an answer to one of his questions. He knocked at the door and stepped back a bit, waiting for someone to answer. He hopes it isn’t too late at night. The moon wasn’t _too_ high up in the sky; he wasn’t interrupting anything, right?

* * *

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Connie was studying her notes on the Korean and Vietnam Wars when she heard the light knocking from downstairs. Her dad was out patrolling, and her mother was working a later shift at the hospital to take care of some paperwork. Connie frowned, _Who could it be at this hour? Solicitors don’t normally come through this neighborhood, and the mail doesn’t come at this time of day._ Connie looked back to her piles of notes and open textbooks. Her test wasn’t for another week, and she was ahead of schedule already. She could spare a few moments to check on who was at the door.

Connie was walking down the stairs when she heard a familiar tune. A few years old, but she recognized it. Soon after performing at the Beach City Beachapalooza, Steven had sung the song for her when they hung out some time after, lamenting how he wished she could’ve been there to watch his and the Crystal Gems’ performance. Something was off-putting about the lyrics though, Connie remembers him making a comment about watching himself die. Connie walked toward the door faster, and looked through the peephole. At first she didn't see anyone, until she looked downwards. Immediately she unlocked the door and tears the door open.

“Steven! Did you age backwards again? What’s wrong? I—” Connie stopped when she realized Steven didn’t seem to be panicked at all. He was in a faded red hoodie and had his ukelele hanging at his side. There was a small hourglass in a glass ball hanging from a string around his neck, and a leather strap going across his chest, opposite to the strap holding his ukelele.“Steven?” In fact, he almost seems mesmerized by her.

“Woah! I knew your mom was tall, but you, like, get _super_ tall in the future!” He stretched his arms out to emphasize the fact. There were stars in his eyes. Literally. Connie remembered Steven making an offhand comment about it being shapeshifting and emotions, or something of that nature. A lot of Steven’s powers were tied to his emotions. “Connie?” Steven tilted his head, “Is everything okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Do you want to come inside? You probably have a lot to talk to me about if you’re here on your own.” Connie stepped aside to let Steven in.

“Hup!” Steven hopped along humming the same tune from earlier, “I _was_ gonna sing at the Beachapalooza, but then another me said some weird stuff about how Dad couldn’t make it, boat too fat, and some other stuff. But I was kind of freaked out by how there were a bunch of me’s fighting each other, and my Time Thing warped me to this weird space-y place. Kind of like on the covers of those books over there, actually,” Steven points to some old physics and astronomy textbooks that were on the coffee table. He shucked off his sandals and walked along, taking in the interior of the home, as if for the first time. Connie thought back to when Steven— 

Connie shut the door and hummed to herself. She can’t call both of them Steven. She looked at the boy who’s literally starstruck with the Maheswaran home. A mystical-looking book hanging at his side, and rose-shaped curls of hair bouncing about. _He’s so cute!_

“Hey, Steven.”

“Yeah?”

“How about a nickname?”

Steven’s eyes lit up immediately, “A _nickname_! That’s so cool!” He started to float. “Wh-woah! Hehehahah!” He giggled, “Look, Connie! I’m floating!” Connie walked over and pulled him down to the sofa, “Hmm. What about ‘Steeb’?”

“Steeb?”

“Yeah, like Steven, but shorter! It’ll make it easier to sort between you and your older self.”

“I get to meet an older me?” Steeb seemed to be having the time of his life, “I bet he’s super cool, and he probably knows how to use our powers super well, and, and— woah…” Steeb laid back on the sofa, “Hey, Connie.”

“Yeah?” 

“You’re taking me seriously.” Steeb sat up, “Do the gems take me seriously when I get older?” _Will they take_ me _seriously?_ He seemed to be asking.

Connie ruffled his hair. “Of course they will! The gems have grown since your time.”

“Hah, you make me sound like a grandpa,” Steeb giggled. He frowned, “Wait, no that’s kind of bad.” Connie gave him a questioning look.

“Oh, uh. I don’t know if older me ever told you this, but for me, which was a bit ago, I wanted to make up for the gems’ birthdays. My emotions ended up stressing me out and I grew all old and almost died. But, I didn’t! The gems started arguing, I think, and then I grew younger and scolded them, or something, then I just kept getting younger until I was back to being me.”

“Oh, I remember something like that happening around—”

“Oh don’t worry about spoiler alerts! I can’t really go back to my time anyways. I think. At least, that’s the feeling I get. Book?” He opened the book. Connie couldn’t see any text on it, but Steeb could, apparently. “Yeah, it says here that I can’t go back to my time, so I guess I’m stuck here? The book also says it can’t tell me what hasn’t happened yet in _this_ time. It’s only supposed to give me some stuff on a ‘need-to-know-basis’, whatever that is.”

“Ah, I see. Well around your fourteenth birthday, you get worried you might not grow up with me, or at least at the same rate. You ended up shapeshifting yourself older, but you stretched yourself too far and ended up turning into a baby? You got better the next morning, though.”

“Wowie.”

Steeb was kicking his legs in the air on the sofa. He had a little pout on his face, the same one Steven got whenever he was thinking really intensely about something. “Who do you think this special person is that I gotta help? When I got here, I didn’t remember much of how I got here aside from that I used the Time Thing, and I was on a mission to help someone after using it.”

Connie shrugged. “Let’s go see the gems to see if they have any ideas. Maybe Garnet could help with her Future Vision.” Connie led Steeb to her car, and the two began the drive to Beach City. Steeb opened his book and began flipping through some pages. He made little sounds, like “Oh!” and “Wow, neato!” He was probably catching up on things that changed as time progressed since the gems’ search for the real Time Glass. “Awww,” he groaned, “Some things are blocked out. Maybe the book’s got spoilers even for me. Oh well.” He shut the book and started snoring. Several minutes passed. Connie began humming along to the song that was playing, not paying much mind to the lyrics. Out of the corner of her eye, Connie could see Beach City below her, and the lighthouse that sat above the Temple. When they pulled into the sleepy city, it was nearly midnight. 

It was eerily quiet at night, but then again, most people didn’t have much reason to stay out at night. Connie and Steeb drove down the street, past the Big Donut, and across the beach, parking in front of the beach house.

“Woah!” Steeb got out of the car quickly, excited to see around the outside of the house, and how it’d changed. Connie put on the parking break and turned off the ignition before grabbing her bag from the back seat and heading out. “It got bigger! And it’s got flags! And a glass dome!” The light in the kitchen turned on. Connie could see Garnet’s silhouette in the glass.

“Alright, Steeb,” she chuckled. “Let’s head inside before either one of us catches a cold.”

“I don’t think I can get sick.” Connie’s eyes widened as she realized that she doesn’t remember a time where Steven ever got sick. Aside from having his gem pulled out and when Spinel attacked.

“Lucky,” was all she said in response. Steeb didn’t need to know about _those_ particular experiences yet. Hopefully not any time soon. The two Jam Buds from Different Times™ walked up the steps to the front porch and knocked. Connie had accidentally left her key to Steven’s house on her desk in her room.

“Hey, Steeb, I’m gonna need you to hold on to your excitement for a little bit, so we can explain everything to Garnet, okay?”

Steeb nodded vigorously. Garnet opened the door and looked down at the two kids. She was staring at them, probably checking her Future Vision. She frowned before motioning for the two to come inside. Steeb looked around in wonder as he looked at how the house had changed. Where his room had been, there was now a wall and a flight of stairs leading upwards. _He had a whole room with a door and everything!_ Steeb looked around for the painting of his mother, but instead he found a painting of his older self and the gems on the wall where the stairs turned. _He had a neck!_ Steeb continued walking around before setting his uke and the Book down next to a barstool at the kitchen counter. He hopped up. Connie walked over, setting her things down underneath the counter, before getting onto her own barstool.

“Well, my Future Vision showed me you would come, but nothing further,” Garnet said, straight to the point like always. 

“Where are the other gems?” Steeb asked, looking around.

“Steven and Amethyst are sleeping. Pearl’s checking up on the duct tape Greg used to fix the Geode.” Garnet lowered her visor. “To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you two here at this time of night?”

Connie and Steeb broke into an explanation of how Steeb appeared on Connie’s doorstep earlier and how he was on a magical time quest to help a special someone. He hadn’t been told who he had to help, though. They came to the gems to see if they had an idea, and a room for Steeb to stay in. Garnet reached into the fridge and brought out a pizza slice to microwave. 

“ _Future Vision~_ ” Steven said in awe, “I was just gonna ask if there were any leftovers!”

“Yeah, we had some pizza a while ago. There’s a lot extra because Steven’s gone vegetarian now.”

“ _Whaaaaaaat?_ ” Steeb leaned back exaggeratedly, but not too far as to tip the stool. “Vegetarian? But why?”

“Maybe his healing spit affects cooked meats now?” Connie suggested, “But then again it should also affect vegetables and fruit, too.”

Steeb dramatically set his fist in his palm, “Maybe I’ve gotta help Future Me out! Maybe he’s in a grown-up funk, being all brooding and weird.”

Connie and Garnet looked at each other.

“I, I was just joking, guys,” Steeb said meekly when neither laughed at his joke, “Wait, you don’t mean—”

“Steven’s been acting strange lately, and hasn’t opened up about how he’s been feeling. His powers have been acting up, and have been more accident-prone than they used to be. Fortunately, Greg is rich and we can afford to pay for damage costs,” Garnet explained, “Steven’s currently banned from handling plants because he accidentally made a cactus Steven golem that got out of control. It was saying oddly specific comments regarding Pearl, Amethyst, and myself. Steven didn’t want to talk about it.”

Steeb processed this information. Basically, according to his Book, he spent a lot of time getting his friends and former enemies to open up. But he didn’t want to himself. “What’s that word called, when you say something and don’t do it?”

“Hypocrite?” Connie looked to Steeb.

“Yeah, that! Future Me’s a big ol’ hippo-crit, and I think I’ve gotta help him open up! And don’t worry,” Steeb said assuringly when he saw Connie make a face, “I won’t be one. If I need help I’ll ask for it! Promise! Besides, I _am_ helping myself, aren’t I?”

“He’s got a point,” Garnet shrugged, “But Steeb, understand that we cannot outright tell Steven why you are here. It would make him less open to interacting with you. This is something my Future Vision has shown me.” Steeb frowned, but it made sense. But even if it made sense, it still didn’t feel right. Steeb trusted Garnet, though. 

The microwave dinged and the pizza was ready, but before Garnet could open the microwave oven, there was a muffled, “Ah!” and a thud from upstairs. Garnet, Connie, and Steeb rushed up the stairs and opened the door to see Steven glowing pink in a heap on the floor, with his TV on playing static. The room was bathed in a pale blue light. There are some hairline fractures in the glass glinting brightly.

“Steven?” Connie leaned over the bed to see Steven in a tangle of pajamas and blankets, “What happened?”

“C-Connie? What are you doing here?”

“Don’t answer a question with another question!” Steeb called over from the doorway, “That’s rude!”

“Wh—”

Connie helped Steven up from the ground. The pink glow subsided and he was instead the same shade of blue as everyone else. Garnet turned off the TV and turned on the lights.

“I had a bad dream is all. Don’t worry about it,” Steven answered. “How are you here?” He asked Steeb, “I thought that alternate timeline version of me broke all the Time Glasses.”

“I’m from a different timeline. I showed up at Connie’s house and she came over to drop me off and talk with the gems and you about why I’m here.” It wasn’t lying, but he still hadn’t told the whole truth. Steeb frowned mentally, he was going to have to get better about hiding the truth about why he was there, but at the same time he felt like that would also lead to a disaster. Lying wasn’t good. He’d have to ask Connie about this. It’d seem like something she’d have read about. There were _a lot_ of books in her house.

“Wait, then we’ve gotta get you back!” Steven panicked and began rushing to get some clothes on. 

“Don’t worry about it, Steven!” Steeb said cheerily, “Heh, that’s weird,” he added, “I can’t really go back to my timeline anyways. This magic book told me so!” Steeb showed Steven the book. “I’m on a mission right now.”

“I see. Well, I guess they don’t call them alternate timelines for nothing. What’s the mission?”

“Steeb was sent to our time to help someone, but time-travel mumbo jumbo messed up a bit of his memory so he doesn’t know who he’s gotta help,” Connie lied smoothly. “So, until he gets his memory back on who he needs to help, we were wondering if he could stay here. Y’know, you show him around and help him out.”

“Of course!” Steven agreed a little too quickly.

Connie gave Steven and Steeb a hug, “Well, I’ve gotta get home now. It’s pretty late.”

The Stevens and Garnet waved good-bye as Connie walked down the stairs to her car. Garnet left to go to sleep. Steeb went downstairs to grab his pizza before coming back upstairs. He sat down on the bed. As he bit into his pizza, he looked up at his older self. He had bags under his eyes, and his hair was a little frazzled. After a while, Steeb finished his pizza and set his plate down on the ground. The silence was beginning to get a little bit awkward.

“Do you wanna talk about your dreams?” Steeb asked, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But, and you probably remember this, but I always talked to Garnet and Pearl about weird dreams I had.” He fiddled a little with his Time Thing.

“It’s late, Steeb. I promise I’ll talk to you about it in the morning if it’s still bothering me. I just don’t want to burden the gems, and I don’t really wanna bother you with my problems—”

“But you’ve gotta talk to _someone_ about how you feel. It’s not good to just keep it to yourself,” Steeb interrupted, “Sorry, but it’s just that we get people to talk to us about how they feel. And, it’s kind of mblergh when people don’t listen. Y’know? Mblergh? If people offer to listen, we should talk to them too, y’know? And besides, you’ll still be keeping it to yourself,” Steeb nudged Steven’s arm playfully, “Heh? Heh?” He made a silly face.

“Haha, alright, alright. But it’s late now, and we Stevens need our sleep, I’ll get you a sleeping bag.” Steven rummaged in his closet for his old caterpillar sleeping bag. “Wow, I can’t believe I still have this.” He handed it to Steeb. He also unplugged his TV when he walked past it.

“What’s up with the pinky glow-y thing, by the way? _Is that a cool new power we get when we’re older?_ ” Steeb asked, “We look a lot like a gem, kinda.”

“Nah, the pink thing just started happening recently. I can’t control it very well. My powers have been a little funky for a while. Bad memories stir it up and make it dangerous.” Steven sighed, falling back onto his bed, “I could help you practice your powers tomorrow, too, if you want. Show you around, I’m sure you saw a lot had changed from driving with Connie.”

“Yeah! And we can go to Funland, and hang out with the gems, and—”

“Alright there, Steeb. Let’s get to sleep now. Need a lotta energy for tomorrow,” Steven grinned.

“I wonder if Connie can come,” Steeb wondered, getting snug into his sleeping bag.

“I’d like that too,” Steven said, “But she might be busy with studying tomorrow.”

Steeb and Steven drifted off into sleep. The nightmares stayed away tonight, and Steven slept soundly.

* * *

Steeb woke up early the next day. Steven was still sound asleep above him on the bed. He shifted and shimmied his way out of the sleeping bag and tip-toed downstairs. Steven needed to catch up on his sleep if the bags under his eyes were any indication. He walked into the kitchen looking to fix himself some chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. He thought about making Together Breakfast. _Maybe the gems would like to try it now. And I bet I could get Steven to help me convince them too!_

Garnet walked out of her room and noticed Steeb in the kitchen. She called out to him, “We tried to get him to eat some Together Breakfast a bit ago, during a snow day. He said, ‘Too much sugar.’”

“ _Whaaaaaaat?_ ” Steeb set the plates and pancake mix down, “ _Too much sugar?_ What has this crazy timeline come to?”

“To be fair, you were gonna also add chocolate chips this time.”

“You can’t ever go wrong with having some extra sweetness,” Steeb asserted.

Garnet thought to herself a bit. “Do you know about fusion?”

“Yeah! I read about it in the Book! It even said Connie and I are able to fuse!” Steeb had wonder in his eyes, “I wonder if I can fuse with older Connie.”

“We’ll see. Anyways. Think of food like a fusion then, if you want it to turn out well, you’ve gotta balance all of its parts just right. A healthy mix of different flavors, like sweet and savory,” Garnet explained.

“Like what Rordan Gamsay always says in his cooking shows! Just, with less mean words,” Steeb said, “Don’t worry! Connie and I always made loud sounds over when he says the mean words.”

Garnet and Steeb began cooking a large breakfast. Experimenting with different recipes to perfect the Together Breakfast so that it wasn’t too sweet, and so that it would taste so good, even Rordan Gamsay would want a bite of it. Steeb asked Garnet not to use her Future Vision, because cooking without the answer made it more fun. 

Yeah, Steeb could get used to befriending the future versions of his friends and family. The quest part could wait. 

**Author's Note:**

> timey, wimey... stuff  
> Please leave a comment if you want!  
> i see thamnk in advance


End file.
